Elvis Costello

[fox69]

"Love For Sale"

"Love For Sale"



When the only sound on the empty street
Is the heavy tread of the heavy feet
That belong to a lonesome cop
I open shop
When the moon so long has been gazing down
On the wayward ways of a wayward town
That a smile becomes a smirk
I go to work

Love for sale
Appetizing young love for sale
Love that's fresh and still unspoiled
Love that's only slightly soiled
Love for sale

Who will buy? Who would like to sample my supply?
Who's prepared to pay the price for a trip to paradise?
Love for sale

Let the poets pipe of love in their childish ways
I know every kind of love better far than they
If you want the thrill of love, I've been through the mill of love
Old love, new love
Every kind but true love

For sale
Appetizing young love for sale
If you want to buy my wares
Follow me and climb the stairs
Love for sale
Love for sale

 

[fox69]

"Love For Tender"

"Love For Tender"



You won't take my love for tender
You can put your money where your mouth is
But you're so unsure
I could be a miser or a big spender
But you might get much more than you bargained for
Check in on a checkmate
Grassing on a classmate
So beautiful and fortunate
You're the one who hates to love
But he's the one who loves to hate
He can fix you all for good
Because he is the neighbourhood
You can get money for blood
Blood money for doing no good

Better tell me now, have you made your selection?
Are you ready for correction?
Cause the wages of sin are an expensive infection
It'll make you bankrupt
Better pay up now, don't interrupt
So in love, I'm so sincere
Just like a well-known financier
You know I've never been corrupt

I'll pay you a compliment
And you'll think I am innocent
You can total up the balance sheet
And never know if I'm a counterfeit
You won't take my love for tender...

 

[fox69]

"Love Went Mad"

"Love Went Mad"



I've looked at it every way I can
From under and above
And every chance I've had
My love went mad
Love went mad love went mad
You you feel like I feel?
Do you have a heart?
DO YOU HAVE A HEART OF IRON AND STEEL?
Are you a man now you wear a man's hat?
Are you a man now or are you a rat?
You go to church quiet as a mouse
You're a big cheese now in the workhouse
With these vulgar fractions of the treble clef
I wish you luck with a capital 'F'
A self-made mug is hard to break
A silent partner in someone else's mistake

Every day goes by without a hitch
YOU FEEL THE URGE BECOMING AN ITCH
The boys in blue are hard to catch
They're busy turning Piccadilly
Into Brands Hatch
But with your fingers in your ears
Feeling bright as a button
Thinking 'THANK GOD THERE'LL BE NO MORE
LAMB DRESSED AS MUTTON'
Playing family favourites on a tissue and a comb
DYING A THOUSAND DEATHS
IN THE SAFETY OF YOUR OWN HOME

 

[fox69]

"Lover's Walk"

"Lover's Walk"



I won't walk with my head bowed
(Be on) Beyond caution where lovers walk
My love walks where three's a crowd
Beyond caution where lovers walk
Lovers walk, lovers scramble
Beyond caution where the lovers walk
Lovers step, shuffle and gamble
Beyond caution where lovers walk

Lovers trip, lovers stumble
Lovers dip, lovers fumble
Lovers lip where love has crumbled
Beyond caution where lovers walk

Lovers strut, lovers stroll, lovers leap
Lovers late, lovers wait
Making promises that they can't keep
Lovers link up arm and arm
Lovers slink up, lovers charm
Lovers drink up and come to harm
Beyond caution where lovers walk

Love is gone and it's no one's fault
Love has stopped here, lovers halt
Lovers don't walk, lovers run
Will you look what love has done
Will you look what love has done
Will you look what love has done
Beyond caution where lovers walk

Now love's limping on a lover's crutch
Looking for a hand with a personal touch
Beyond caution where lovers walk

 

[fox69]

"Lovers That Never Were"

"Lovers That Never Were"



I have always needed somebody, girl
But I close the doors to keep out the world
But for you
I would be here all alone
Locked in a photograph

All of the clocks have run down
Lover beware
We'll be the lovers that never were

I hang patiently on every word you send
Will we ever be much more than just friends?
As for you
You sit there playing this game
You keep me waiting

When all of the clocks have run down
All over the world
We'll be the lovers that never were

For as long as the sun shines
In somebody's eyes
I believe in you, baby
So don't tell me lies
For as long as the trees
Throw down blossoms and leaves
I know there will be
A parade of unpainted dreams

And I know, dear
How much it's going to hurt
If you still refuse to get your hands dirty
So you
You must tell me something...I love you
Say goodbye or anything

All of the clocks have run down
Time's at an end
If we can't be lovers we'll never be friends

For as long as the sun shines
In somebody's eyes
I believe in you, baby
So don't tell me lies
For as long as the trees
Throw down blossoms and leaves
I know there will be
A parade of unpainted dreams

 

[fox69]

"Luxembourg"

"Luxembourg"


Dressed up like a dog's dinner
Butter wouldn't melt on your paws
If this is a dog's life
Then you're the cat's clothes
They hire out your sons
And hire out your daughters
The man from abroad says he's already bought her
And now you look like a lover but you're only a tourist

[Chorus:]
You're either talking or yawning
You didn't listen to a thing you heard
Don't start your morning moaning or you might wake up in Luxembourg

You get over
You're worried by her body
She's worryin' about her bodily odour
You pull off
The pull over
You say that you love her when you really loathe her
Serves you right now she wants you to feed her and clothe her

[Chorus]

They're smiling sweetly while they're looking daggers
Kick you where it really matters
Send all your friends to Coventry
And look for your name in last night's obituaries

If you've got the Deutschmarks
If you've got the Yen, then
You get the shirt off her back and the clock off Big Ben
Somebody's soft touch
Struck all these bargains
In the drinking clubs with the council men
Making plans to put lead back in their pencils again

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Man Out Of Time"

"Man Out Of Time"


So this is where he came to hide
When he ran from you
In a private detective's overcoat
And dirty dead man's shoes

The pretty things of Knightsbridge
Lying for a minister of state
Are a far cry from the nod and wink
Here at traitor's gate

'Cause the high heel he used to be has been ground down
And he listens for the footsteps that would follow him around

[Chorus:]
To murder my love is crime
But will you still love
A man out of time

There's a tuppeny hapenny millionaire
Looking for a fourpenny one
With a tight grip on the short hairs
Of the public imagination

But for his private wife and kids somehow
Real life becomes a rumour
Days of dutch courage
Just three French letters and a German sense of humour

He's got a mind like a sewer and a heart like a fridge
He stands to be insulted and he pays for the privilege

[Chorus]

The biggest wheels of industry
Retire sharp and short
And the after dinner overtures
Are nothing but an after thought
Somebody's creeping in the kitchen
There's a reputation to be made
Whose nerves are always on a knife's edge
Who's up late polishing the blade

Love is always scarpering or cowering or fawning
You drink yourself insensitive and hate yourself in the morning

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Men Called Uncle"

"Men Called Uncle"



Now there's newsprint all over your face
Well maybe that's why I can read you like a book
Just when I thought I was getting my taste to bite
I go and lose my appetite
Look at the men that you'd call uncle
They'd like to sink their teeth into you
For the pride and the pleasure
And the privilege of having you

If I say you're the one do you think that I'm serious
You get that kind of talk from older men
If I say I love you then I must be delirious
So why are you trying to put my temperature up again

Look at the men that you'd call uncle
Having a heart attack round your ankles

When you wake up with X-rated eyes
When you wake up still shaking
How can I apologize
As you check your effects and check your reflection
I'm so affected in the face of your affection

Look at the men that you'd call uncle
Having a heart attack round your ankles

I could swear, I could promise that I'll always be true to you
But we may not live to be so old
I could even say I'm going to do something new to you
Now the girls I see just leave me cold

Look at the men that you call uncle...

 

[fox69]

"Miracle Man"

"Miracle Man"


You never asked me what I wanted. You only asked me why.
I never thought that so much trouble was restin' on my reply,
I could say it was the nights when I was lonely
and you were the only one who'd come.
I could tell you that I like your sensitivity,
when you know it's the way that you walk.

[Chorus]:
Why do you have to say that there's always someone
who can do it better than I can?
But don't you think that I know that walking on the water
won't make me a miracle man?

Baby's gotta have the things she wants.
You know she's gotta have the things she loves.
She's got a ten-inch bamboo cigarette holder
and her black patent leather gloves.
And I'm doing everything just tryin' to please her,
even crawling around on all fours.
Oh, I thought by now that it was gonna be easy,
but she still seems to want for more.

[Chorus]

I hear they're givin' you a bad reputation
just because you've never been denied.
You try to say you've done it all before.
Baby, you know that you just get tired.
Yet everybody loves you so much, girl.
I just don't know how you stand the strain.
Oh, I, I'm the one who's here tonight,
and I don't wanna do it all in vain.

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Mischievous Ghost"

"Mischievous Ghost"


She came dancing right before my eyes
She said she'd came to warn me
Before it dawned on me
I went walking on the blank hillside
Where the sunset falls
Where the sunset dies
She gave me love, she told me lies
That most mischievous ghost
She was in disguise, she was in disguise, she was in disguise.

He started to whistle, they bought him a flute
He was talking in tongues, they swore he was mute
He scoffed and blasphemed, they said it was beautiful
Busted a button, they bought him a suitcase full

They coloured him cricket and laced him up tight
As he drew on their days resurrected his nights
He raved in the dark, he went out in a blaze
"There you go," they said, "he's good for nothing and lazy"

With scandal and shame they slandered his name
They told him to freeze, they damned him to roast
Disappointed that he passed away peacefully
Never [trying/dying] to be a mischievous ghost

They dug him up quick with a polish and lick
They powdered him up till he only looked sick
The hinge in his backbone would bend to applause
But his dancing was not quite as lively of course

These are the rewards immortality affords
Bullied and bribed and beaten to bliss
[Harrington slacks/Harrods in slacks] and tormental laments
Of going away and not being missed

With scandal and shame they slandered his name
They told him to freeze, they damned him to roast
Disappointed that he passed away peacefully
Never dying to be a mischievous ghost

With the green beer and the shamrock tattoos
Singing his songs of the battles we lose
And [when/will] you come home again so we can murder you
What would you do if they took his word
With forty-eight million to join in the toast
Move over my darling
Mischievous ghost
Mischievous ghost